South Africa's government has launched a corporate-backed vehicle focused on small and medium-sized businesses in a bid to tackle unemployment and fuel the economy.

South Africa has launched a R1.4bn ($95m) venture fund to invest in startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country, BusinessDay has reported.

SA SME Fund has sourced limited partner commitments from African businesses and will invest in startups that record annual turnover between R20m and R500m.

The vehicle has launched with a mandate to back 10 “significant” black-owned businesses, 200 SMEs and five black entrepreneurs in the next five years, in the process helping to grow the…